Before we eat anything for dinner Bernardino and Antonella explain to us what we are eating. They tell us both in Italian and English so we learn but also understand. Usually it works quite well, but we had a complication this evening. There is a type of cheese that Italians eat with honey or a type of jam. Bernardino explained what everything on the table was in English, but when he got to the jam he could only say it in Italian. He said it was a kind of fruit, but he didn't know what it was called. I didn't think that naming a fruit could be so hard, but between the two of us, it took about 10 minutes of discussion to come up with it. These were the hints I got.
- It is green on the outside and red on the inside. (I guessed watermelon.)
- It has lots of little kernels on the inside. (I guessed pomegranate, but that isn't green on the outside.)
- It grows on a cactus. (Am I really supposed to have a guess from that?)
- It's little. He showed me the size. (Oh, well that narrows it down a lot.)
Any guesses? I smelled it, I looked at the bottle, I guessed random fruits hoping I would get it, and eventually we gave up and decided to look it up after dinner. About five minutes later Bernardino's girlfriend, Maria, came up with a brilliant way for me to know what it was. She asked if I knew who Adam was, as in Adam and Eve. When I said yes they talked about when they were in the Garden and they were naked and then they were embarrassed. At this point I was so confused and just hoping this would help and not make it worse. She then asked me if I knew what kind of leaves they used to cover themselves up. Thank goodness for the Bible. They used fig leaves. Turns out I was eating fig jam. Who knew that one day I would use the Bible to translate from Italian to English? Classic.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Classic Dinner Conversation
Posted by Kimberly at 2:54 PM
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7 comments:
Love it Kimberly! I can just see you laughing as you were trying to figure out what the fruit was. How was the fig jam? I remember a LOT of cheese in Italy, and pasta, YUM! We love you and miss you. Keep us "posted"!
I never would have guessed a fig either. So, Kimberly, if you liked the fig jam, maybe I can persuade you to try a Fig Newton now!
Hee hee--very funny story. What else did they have to eat with the cheese and fig jam? Sounds yummy. I'm hungry. How is school going? Which class do you like the best? Any classes you don't like? Post more pictures please!
Great post - I love picturing you there. I still wish I could have a little camera following you around seeing what you are doing! But your pictures and posts will do, I suppose. Love you!
So do you eat with people other than the woman you live with? I don't think I've ever had figs. I hope you're feeling better. You might remember that I got pretty sick in Mexico (strep, mono) and it was not very fun, so I hope you're through with that! Thanks for writing.
Antonella is the name of the woman that I live with. She has a son named Bernardino who eats with us quite often. He is in his 30s and lives elsewhere but comes home often to take advantage of mom's home cooking. Occasionally there is a girl named Maria who eats with us as well. We aren't exactly sure, but from what we can tell she is Bernardino's girlfriend. As for being sick, I am doing much better. It was a rough couple of days, but after that I was fine. I'm very glad that it was only temporary.
Hooray for Adventure Woman Wallace! I can just hear you telling this story, it really is classic. Guess what? I flew over you last week on my way here. I asked the pilot if we could stop and see you. He said no and to please sit down because the seatbelt light was still on. oh well. Maybe on the way back.
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